*New Teacher* Sharing Students' Genius So ALL Can Learn!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My students deserve the very BEST. I teach 9th-12th grade students in Algebra 1, required to graduate from high school, and Algebra 2, essential to college acceptance. Both are difficult courses for students to master, especially when my students have been under-served since the beginning of their schooling. My students come from low-income homes, many with only one or no parents. They are born with little social capital and are often underestimated by our society. My students work hard - given the chance, I know they will make a POSITIVE DIFFERENCE in our world.

Currently, it is very difficult for my students to share their solutions with the entire class. Imagine a student trying to explain the following without a visual: “First I noticed that if I switched the x and y values of the first function on the left, I can get the curved graph…” Thus, students have to take precious time copying their work to the board. During this, many important thought processes are lost, not copied over from their own papers. Moreover, students are often uncomfortable presenting their ideas with the class as a whole. It is NECESSARY to talk about different methods of solving, compare ways of approaching problems, and reflect on the understanding we have gained as a class.

To encourage students to openly discuss their learning, we need a digital visual presenter. Students simply place their paperwork on the screen and it is projected for the entire class to see – writing can even be projected as they do it. This AMAZING piece of technology is ALWAYS intriguing to students; every student I have seen CANNOT WAIT to share their work this way. Because it is such a draw for students, they become enthused to display and explain their solutions. Such impromptu presentations occur frequently with a digital presenter, encouraging all students to develop public speaking skills and become comfortable expressing ideas. These skills are ESSENTIAL to success in a college classroom, where participation in discussion is absolutely necessary. Many high school classrooms only have students make formal presentations; daily presentations make discussion a natural skill for my under-served students, a skill that will help them compete with the best college freshmen.

Your support would ensure my students… *are given access to an incredible piece of technology, *are exposed to the many wonderful ideas their classmates have, *are taught to constructively examine the work of others, *feel comfortable sharing their own ideas with a large group, and *become members of a discussion-based community. Students will learn from and appreciate the different ways that their peers solve and understand problems. Through the variety of solving methods, my students would expand their problem solving abilities. You will be giving our classroom a POWERFUL tool to initiate discussion, a central component of the college classroom and ultimately, the working world.